CAR NEWS

With   the fifth Mercedes victory in a row, the 2019 championship fight is  already becoming boring, according to the majority of teams  managers. In Barcelona, Mercedes' advantage over Ferrari was greater  than ever. "We have problems in the slow corners," said Charles Leclerc  in Barcelona. "Hopefully a solution will be found soon." Ferrari's  growing deficit is despite the fact that an engine upgrade was  fast-tracked by two races.

It  is the "Events season": a lot of Ferrari events are coming for Ferrari  and sport car enthusiasts ... You can find all events in Bryan's Events Calendar. Following are some events in DC, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania: 

• this Sunday May 19, in Reading, PA, Ferrari Festival
• this Sunday May 19, in Alexandria, VA, Speed and Style
• June 1, Forest Hill, MD, with FCA-MAR
• June 15, Sterling, VA, with FCA-MAR
• June 16, Annapolis, MD, an Exotic cars show
• June 22, Coopersburg, PA, Snakes on the Mountain... 

Hamilton   (Mercedes) overcame Bottas (Mercedes) at the very beginning, then led   the race throughout, conquering his third Spanish Grand Prix in a  row. The Mercedes duo were joined on an identical podium to 2018 by the  Red Bull  of Max Verstappen, with the Ferrari pair of Sebastian Vettel  and  Charles Leclerc fourth and fifth, Verstappen maintaining his record  of having finished ahead of at least one Ferrari at every race this  season.

Mattia  Binotto, Ferrari F1 team manager, is sure. “Mercedes cars at moment are  slightly better than ours. But we are working hard and l’m sure we can  improve quickly”. The first test will be in Spain, in less than a week for the Grand Prix of Barcelona-Cataluna. Appointment already very important after the record start of the new season by Mercedes. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel seems ready to show his real potential. “In  the few first races of this Championship I didn’t show it.

But I hope to can do it very soon”. Maybe in Barcelona?  

RM  Sotheby’s is already working for the Monterey Car Week next August.  The famous auction company has announced some of the featured cars for  the  sale. Among them is an awe-inspiring Italian sports racer, a 1954  Maserati A6GCS factory team car, chassis 2078, that will be offered  after two decades of  ownership by an enthusiast who has driven it in  historic races and  rallies in the US and Europe. 

With his victory in Baku, Valtteri Bottas helped Mercedes to improve even more its winning opening incredible of this season. Hamilton  - always   Mercedes- finished second, in a very no selfish race. Sebastian Vettel  on Ferrari completed the podium in Baku, ahead of Max  Verstappen. Charles  Leclerc - the young Ferrari driver - was next up,  recovering decently  from his qualifying crash on Saturday and taking  his third fifth place  of the year.

It is not the engine or the body car. Ferrari cars suffer from tires. Sebastian Vettel is sure about that. The German driver believes  Ferrari's struggles to make its tires work properly is the more "dominating factor" in its Formula 1 car's performance being held back, rather than an aerodynamic weakness. The Mercedes was unstoppable  event  with a soft choice for both Hamilton's and Bottas' cars.

Sotheby’s  says that two famed racing cars of the  past — a very rare 1954 Ferrari  500 Mondial Spider and a 1957 Porsche  550A Spyder — will share pole  position at its upcoming collector car  auction at Villa Erba in  northern Italy.  RM Sotheby’s has set the price for the Ferrari in a  pre-auction estimated value at €4.250.000 to €4.750.000 ($4.791 million  to $5.355 million). The auction is scheduled for May 25.

With  Easter officially starts the thaw season for Ferrari owners and  historic cars owners. It's that time of year again! Saturday, April the  27th,  FCA-MAR will once again hold it's Spring  Thaw at the Travinia  Italian Kitchen located in the Village of Leesburg.  Socializing starts  at 12:00 Noon and lunch will be served at  1:30 pm.  Cost is $50 per  person. 

A   car more than unique, built for only 40 special owners. This is the  story of the Ferrari FXX K Evo. The car is a two-year production car   sold in 2015 and remains one of the most formidable track machines ever   built. Its 1,036 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque are provided by a  naturally  aspirated 6.3-liter V12 and a KERS style electric motor. And  now Ferrari  is testing a camouflaged example at the Nurburgring. For  sure something new is coming.

Easy  race for Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) in Shanghai. He won the 2019 Chinese Formula One Grand Prix, after taking the lead over the team-mate  Valtteri Bottas, who started on pole and finished second. Ferrari's  Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top three despite losing his place to  team-mate Charles Leclerc at the start. The  young Ferrari driver,  following the team orders, accepted to be passed by Vettel, and ended  the race as fifth, after Verstappen (RedBull).

Michael Schumacher’s son, Mick, made a hugely successful debut driving a F1 car in a test for Ferrari. The young Schumacher,  only 20 years old, drove  very fast. Fernando Alonso also returned to F1, conducting a tire test  for Pirelli in a McLaren at the Sakhir circuit. Schumacher, who won the F3 championship last season, is a member of the Ferrari driver academy and is racing in F2 this season for Prema team. He  finished  eighth and sixth in the opening two races in Bahrain last  weekend.

Ferrari  fans should be ready to reach Laguna Seca this May (10th to12th)  during the Ferrari Racing Days. Fans  will be able to see some of the most sought-after Ferrari production cars. The Italian firm announced Thursday that the Ferrari Racing Days will include the company's XX xperimental cars. For those who don't  know, the XX models are track-specific cars. Each XX car features new technology the brand wants to study and perhaps develop further. Recent models include  FXX K, FXX K Evo.

From April 5th to April 14th the Convention Center in DC hosts one of the nation’s top five auto shows by the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, the Washington Auto Show, a world class event with the latest cars and historic vehicles displays. Along with the engineering prowess on display among the more than 600 new models from over 35 manufacturers, the 2019 show features VIP tours led by award-winning automotive writers and an exhibit area for “art” cars live painting.

Hamilton (Mercedes) won the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix, his first of the season, thanks to some mechanical issues for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver had a great run but he finished third. Hamilton’s  Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was second while Sebastian Vettel  arrived only fifth after a spin in the first part of the race. Red Bull’s  Max Verstappen was fourth.

“Go behind the scenes and join us as we embark on a one-off journey to create our most extreme Special Project to date." Those are the words that Ferrari used in its first new images for a brand new upcoming Ferrari supercar. 

That's not just another supercar. It's going to be called Prototipo and it's a one-off project that will be. In fact, the Prancing Horse wants you to save this date: March 25th. Ferrari will premiere a film about the special one-off project on its official Facebook page...

Ferrari F1 drivers are sure. Sooner or later the team will show the real potential of the car. In Bahrain the Prancing Horse could prove it. But nothing at the moment is sure. “Last year we left winter  testing with problems on the car” Vettel said. “This year the  problem that we have has nothing to do with what we have seen last year. We went in Australia with the car behaving as we expected. It felt very good. All the numbers and so on make sense that weekend, but clearly we missed something.

Right now, we don’t have an  answer.” Sakhir  is a traditional circuit with a less bumpy, more  abrasive surface. Ferrari is expected to be back, hopefully... 

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) won the first GP of the new F1 Championship, after  overtaking the teammate Lewis Hamilton at the start. Lewis Hamilton  arrived second, but he wasn't happy, over all about the 20 seconds of delay in Melbourne's Albert Park circuit. 3rd place for Verstappen (Red Bull). 4th  for Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), the man many  thought came into the weekend as the favorite, asked  his team over the radio: "Why are we so slow?" They said they had no idea. Leclerc finished 5th.

Ferrari   team was ready for a different start... The team principal  Mattia  Binotto, after the first F1 race in Australia clearly says fourth and  fifth in the Melbourne Grand Prix does not reflect the potential of  its  2019 car. Vettel qualified third on Saturday but was beaten to the   podium by Max Verstappen in Melbourne, while Charles Leclerc closed up   on a struggling Vettel late on but was told to hold position. “You are   right, it’s not what we were expecting,” Binotto said.

“I think winter testing was certainly different, but since Friday FP1, we never found  the right balance on the car, and we struggled with the tires." 

Best  car, and best improving team. Ferrari seems have all the good chances  to be the winner brand in the 2019 Formula 1 championship. In a week,  starting from Melbourne, in Australia, the wait will be finally  over.  All the numbers and the latest tests say Mercedes has a good car  but  with some delays. The experts say good chances are also for the new  alliance Red Bull-Honda-Toro Rosso, and other teams like McLaren, Alfa  Romeo and Renault.  

The   “Black Car”, “La voiture noire” -original in name in  French - from Bugatti is the new most expensive car you can buy right  now, with a total price around $12.5 million. Presented in Geneve, it is  a one-off tribute to the Atlantic, a coach-built car built atop the  Type 57SC platform from the 1930s. For one time, the comparison with the   movie car Batmobile doesn’t seem something exaggerated but just very   real. 

For  those with a passion for vintage cars, the arrival of the Amelia  Island Concours d’Elegance is the sign spring is almost here. The appointment  is divided in concourse and action. The concourse is scheduled  for  Sunday, March 10, with the Ferrari 250 GT Short Wheelbase,  Mercedes-Benz 500K and 540K, Porsche 962 race cars, and many others. 

In other words, the half-dozen auction houses staging sales at  Amelia,  representing both the big names and lesser known operations, are hoping to improve the 2018 results: a $80 million take on 334 cars. 

Ferrari confirmed that it will introduce a second mid-engine platform  alongside the the 488, paving the way for a more affordable model and a  possible  return of the iconic Dino nameplate. Ferrari’s senior vice  president of commercial and marketing, Enrico Galliera confirmed that  the storied  carmaker will add five new models or variants to the roster  for 2019.

“There's not a lot I can say because we prefer to announce  the product  when it's arriving, but the first one will be announced in  Geneva, which  is in two weeks time so is very close”, said recently Galliera. 

Vettel's Ferrari  marked an overall 0.397s ahead of anyone else and his team mate  Charles Leclerc was equally impressive during the first tests in  Barcelona, Spain. During the week also Renault, Toro Rosso,Alfa Romeo  and - of course- Mercedes marked great times. But everybody was  impressed by the great difference between the 2018 and the 2019  Ferrari, and by how the new car seemed “easy to drive”.  

The   F1 circuit is ready for a great return. Long-time Dutch GP venue  Zandvoort and established MotoGP circuit Assen are rivals in their  ambition to bring F1 back to the country for the first time since 1985,  to capitalise on the popularity of Red Bull star Max Verstappen. In  this way, Zandvoort  has secured an exclusive agreement to try to  negotiate a deal with championship bosses by the end of March 2019, with  the intention of  hosting the returning F1 races starting from 2020.

A   1991 F40 Ferrari with an incredible past – including starring on a   reality television show during its restoring and eventually belonging   to a parking lot operator who scammed the U.S. Department of Veterans  Affairs out of millions and subsequently getting seized by the FBI – was   sold at a U.S. Marshals auction last week for the amazing price of   $760,000. After the 2013 restoring, the color of this car is a   brilliant deep black. Still unknown the name of the new owner. 

The name is SF90, and it is the new F1 Ferrari 2019  painted with a "red" never seen before. The name is to celebrate the  Italian manufacturer's 90th anniversary. In Maranello, the new Team  Leader Mattia Binotto, with the two official pilots Sebastian Vettel and  Charles Leclerc, unveiled the new Ferrari.  CEO Louis Camilleri was  present together with John Elkann, Ferrari President, that said this is  the new era of #essereFerrari ... On Monday, in Barcelona track, first  laps. 

The Chicago Auto Show,  the largest US autoshow, is open to the public till February 18. Alfa  Romeo used the Chicago Auto Show to debut a new variant  of its 4C  Spider. You'll be able to spot the 4C Spider Italia thanks to its  exclusive Misano Blue Metallic paint job, piano black front air  intake  and rear diffuser, and special graphics on its sides. That said,  you  probably won't see many at all, since only 15 are destined for US  soil.

Following  the first images of customer team Haas's new design, Ferrari looks  ready to adopt a unique double-stacked exhaust system with its 2019  Formula 1 car. Rather than having the two turbo wastegate pipes exiting  at the side of the main exhaust like other teams, they are experiencing  with mounting them both on top.

Many Ferrari Club of America groups are celebrating Enzo Ferrari's Birthday (he was born on February 18th 1898 in Modena, Italy). FCA Mid Atlantic Region gather in Rockville, MD, on Sunday 17th. 

Ferrari announced profits last year rose 46 percent, driven by a surge in V12   sales and vehicle customization. Ferrari on Thursday reported 2018 net profit of 787 million euros ($904 million), up from 537 million euros   the previous year. Shipments rose 10 percent to 9,251 vehicles, while   net revenues were flat at 3.4 billion euros. Ferrari forecast profit  for  2019 are about another jump of 10%. 

The Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai circuit has been ever present on  the calendar since the inaugural race in 2004, and this year’s race  will be the 1,000th race in F1. Head  of global sponsorship and  commercial partnerships Murray Barnett, in  Beijing for an F1 strategic  marketing conference, told few days ago: “We would love to have a  second race here in China”.

Fernando Alonso have just added another big trophy to his amazing driver career. In one of the wettest 24 hour races at Daytona, it wound up  being a  race of survival than performance. In the end, it was the  Konica Minolta  Cadillac team of Fernando Alonso, Kamui Kobayashi,  Jordan Taylor and  Renger Van Der Zande who outlasted the rain and won  the Rolex 24 at  Daytona for Wayne Taylor Racing.

One  of the most exceptional cars is ready for auction. One that ran twice  at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is the Ferrari F40 twin-turbo, 471 hp  celebration of 40 years of the prancing horse. All the F40s were red.  With one exception. This one’s blue. After a few changes of owners, it’s  stayed in the same hands since 2008. It’s up for sale at R.M. Sotheby’s  Paris auction in early February. This chassis, 74045 was a  pre-production car. 

The  Detroit Auto Show  - open till Sunday, January the 27th -  has featured  the launch of  some breathtaking new vehicles. Many of the main automakers are on the  verge of releasing a number of new electric vehicles. Cadillac will  launch its first EV in 2021. Lincoln and Ford are  promising electric  options on their upcoming models. Volkswagen’s ID Crozz will go into  production this year. The company has committed to bringing 15 electric  vehicles to the global market by 2025.  

The Detroit Auto Show will move  next year from January to the second June week. 

 Mick   Schumacher, the 19-year-old son of legendary Formula One driver  Michael  Schumacher, will be part of the Ferrari driver academy. In a  statement  posted on the F1 team's, Mattia Binotto -Scuderia Ferrari's  team  principal - said Ferrari was signing the teenager based on his  talent  and "human and professional qualities". 

"For  someone like me  who has known him from birth, there's no doubt that welcoming Mick (F3  2018 champion) into Ferrari has a special emotional meaning, but we  have chosen him for his talent and the human and  professional qualities  that have already distinguished him despite his  young age," Binotto  said. 

The  price could be around 6 millions of dollars. Or maybe a couple  more.  Constructed in 1964 and carrying assembly sequence No. 1, chassis  06003,  the first-ever Ferrari 275 GTB is now available to any Ferrari  fan out there with enough cash and drive to get it. It  will go under  Gooding & Co.’s hammer, Lot 143 of the Jan. 18-19  Scottsdale  Auctions. it is one-of-a-kind automobile served as Ferrari’s  prototype  and development car and competed in the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally. 

British F1 expert journalist Tony Jardine just dropped the "bomb".  Lewis Hamilton could finish his carrier with Ferrari. Hamilton is regarded as one of the greatest drivers in sport history, having claimed his 5th world championship last year. He is contracted to Mercedes until 2020, and Jardine think his next move could be to Ferrari."Yes, after those 2 years he might finish his career at Ferrari with a 2-years deal with them: Ferrari is a dream for every  champion" Jardine told Express Sport.

The  famous Rally Dakar, started on January the 6th is going to end on Jan.  17th. Buggies, UTVs, SUVs, trucks, cars, motorbikes and quads are all in  the mix. In total there will be 334 vehicles: 167 bikes/quads, 126  autos/UTVs, 41 trucks. Race loop is 5,000 kilometers (about 3,107  miles). Entire event stays in Peru; beginning and ending in Lima.  Americans can watch on NBC SPORT starting Jan. 7 at 6:30 p.m. EST.

Whole  Formula 1 community has been paying tribute to Michael Schumacher on  the seven-time world champion’s 50th birthday. Schumacher  remains the  most successful driver in F1 history based on drivers’ championships and  GP victories, with 91 wins to his name in a career that spanned 19  seasons. As he turns 50, still recovering from a tragic ski accident,  number of messages and tributes have been shared by drivers and former  colleagues, including Lewis Hamilton, Ross Brawn, Jean Todt.